In a bid to make it appear that Grand Valley was running smoothly, a senior manager at the prison was ordered by her bosses to falsify reports relating to the way guards handled Ashley Smith, a coroner’s inquest has heard.

In a bid to make it appear that Grand Valley was running smoothly, a senior manager at the prison was ordered by her bosses to falsify reports relating to the way guards handled Ashley Smith, a coroner’s inquest has heard.

Launa Smith, whose job was to review reports on the procedures guards used in responding to Ashley Smith’s use of ligatures, testified that she was ordered in the spring and early summer of 2007 by then-warden Brinda Wilson-Demuth and deputy warden Joanna Pauline to downplay the reports to lessen the chance authorities from Corrections Canada’s national and regional headquarters would see them.

Smith , who was called Launa Gratton at the time, testified the practice had even gone on before Ashley first arrived at Grand Valley in May 2007.

The inquest heard Wednesday that the warden and deputy became concerned Grand Valley was “over reporting’’ the number of “uses of force’’ occurrences — instances where guards use force against an inmate.

Ashley habitually tied ligatures around her neck, and guards often had to enter her cell, typically using force.

Wilson-Demuth was in line for a promotion to a senior position with Corrections Canada — a position she later obtained — and Pauline made sure Launa Smith knew that, the inquest heard. The pressure on Smith to alter her reports came through Pauline, said Smith, whose title at the time was security intelligence officer.

Changes to the reports included categorizing incidents as disciplinary problems, rather than an inmate assault on a guard, or calling the occurrence “damage to government property,” Smith testified.

“I made it clear I wasn’t happy but I changed the reports,’’ Smith said, adding she later complained about what was going on to others, including someone at Corrections Canada’s regional office in Ontario.

The report-changing first came light during a board of investigation probe a short time after Smith asphyxiated herself Oct. 19, 2007 in her segregation cell at Grand Valley with a ligature around her neck.

When a new warden, Cindy Berry, took over mid-August, Smith told Berry about the rewritten reports and Berry told her to stop the practice, the inquest heard.

But when Ashley returned to Grand Valley Aug. 31, 2007 after going another prison in June, the number of entries into her cell — and the large number of use of force reports relating to her interactions with guards — were bothersome for Berry and Pauline, the inquest heard.

Smith’s job was also to draft, on behalf of the deputy, “counseling letters’’ to guards and middle managers criticizing them for how they responded to Ashley’s ligature-tying.

Everything from not identifying themselves properly on the videotapes made during entries into Smith’s cell, to poor quality of the video, to not “assessing and reassessing’’ Smith’s condition before entering, and going in too soon was criticized in the letters.

As a result, the guards second-guessed themselves and hesitated about going into Smith cell, which is what happened the day she died.

The inquest heard that when Pauline, Smith and Berry watched the video of Ashley Smith’s death on the day of the tragedy, they asked aloud why the guards were standing outside Smith’s cell waiting while she asphyxiated.

Howard Rubel, the lawyer for the federal prison guards pounced on this point.

“In your use of force reviews when you list deficiencies . . . did you ever once write that officers did not enter quickly enough?”

Smith replied no.

“In fact, was there any criticism of officers not entering quickly enough in any documentation you saw, drafted for someone else, or wrote on your own in the entire fall of 2007?

Excluding Oct. 19, 2007, Smith said no.

“Right, excluding Oct. 19. In fact the very first time you, Cindy Berry and Joanna Pauline ever commented that officers hadn’t entered early enough is when you reviewed the Oct. 19 video, right after Ashley died correct?”

Yes, Smith replied.

“And that comment only came based on the knowledge Ashley died?’’ to which Smith, replied yes.

The inquest also heard that Smith initially told police in May 2008 she had “absolutely no idea’’ why guards were reluctant to enter Ashley’s cell, and that she’d never heard about a direction that if Ashley was breathing with ligatures around her neck, guards weren’t to enter her cell.

Smith told Rubel that the instructions she knew before Ashley’s death were more detailed than that — that guards were to look for signs of distress in Ashley and assess and reassess before entering her cell.

Rubel suggested she was trying to mislead police when she gave her answers.

Smith said that before Ashley died she’d never heard “just that statement’’ about not going in if Ashley’s still breathing.

The Smith inquest recessed Wednesday for summer break, and is returning Sept. 9.

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.